Pre-holiday Cyber Security Checklist

Here at HOSTING headquarters in Denver CO, the water cooler talk is focused on two topics:

1) Will the Denver Broncos make it to the Super Bowl this year?

2) Are our customers implementing the right cyber security measures in anticipation of the busy holiday season?

Yes, we know. It was just last week that we were shaking the sand out of our swimsuits and saying goodbye to summer. However, it’s never too early to revisit your cyber security measures in anticipation of such major retail holidays as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And recent studies show that cyber security is on the agenda of 80% of corporate boards. So the team at HOSTING has put together a pre-holiday cyber security checklist for you to ensure your organization and environment are fortified against potential threats.

HOSTING pre-holiday cyber security checklist

Check your Wi-Fi firmware

Business travel picks up after the summer. You might find that more of your colleagues are working remotely. Make sure that your firmware is up-to-date to reduce your risk of a cyber attack.

Make sure your software patches are up to date

Don’t let a neglected software patch open the door for cyber criminals to access your business-critical data and applications. Make sure that you’re current on all software patches that have been released. Double-check to see that your automatic patch update programs are humming along and haven’t been tampered with.

Schedule cyber security awareness training for your employees

As HOSTING product manager Tricia Pattee emphasized in her recent webinar, How to Spend Your Cloud Security Dollar, cyber security incidents are just as likely to be the result of a current employee’s actions than from outside threats. That’s not to suggest that these are all malicious events – insider crimes can include lost or stolen devices, an employee surfing websites that are not safe, or other incidents related to lack of education or a program to manage security from within the organization.

Now is a good time to schedule a mandatory cyber security refresher with all of your employees. Review the current security policies in place and remind your employees they have an important role in safeguarding company assets.

Review your user access levels

Has your organization staffed up or handed out a lot of promotions recently? Have some of your employees moved to different departments? Now is a good time to review your team’s user access levels to ensure they have access only to the data and applications they need.

Likewise, if your organization has experienced some employee turnover, confirm that all of their access has been terminated. Sometimes there is a lag during an employee transition, so double check to make sure they’re completely off of your systems.

Run through your backups

Ransomware is on the rise, so take time to review the frequency of your backups to ensure you can retrieve what you need in the event of a cyber attack. Test the last full backup to make sure its’s running smoothly. And consider doing a full, pre-holiday backup in addition to your standard backup schedule.

Check the security of your financial assets

Financial institutions are not immune from cyber attacks. Schedule a meeting with your banker so you have a clear understanding of their organization’s cyber security measures.